Loach Driver Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 (edited) I ordered a few conversion sets from a UK company called Whirlybits a while back and they arrived this week. Whirlybits produce a lot of interesting little sets in 1/72 for helicopters and I will post here what I received, as a few might not be aware of this range. I hope this is of interest. Here is an in-box review of the 1/72 Whirlybits Sikorsky S-61N conversion set. It requires the Revell Germany Sea King kit for the majority of the additional parts. The Whirlybits conversion set is quite comprehensive and the version I bought was the SAR one (WBA72050), which is based primarily on the SAR machines operated in the past by Bristows. The conversion set included two fuselage halves in resin, with all doors opened up in their respective fuselage halves. Also supplied in resin are two sets of sponsons (one plain set and one with pop-out floats fitted), bulkhead, two of the doors, the cockpit floor, the front engine housing, a stairs, the tail pylon and tailplane and a set of rotor blades. The rotor blades can be replaced by plastic ones from the Airfix or Fujimi kits. The blades in the Revell kit are the new composite ones while the S-61N has the older metal blades. One bag of white metal parts contains the SAR equipment (FLIR and winch) and aerial fit. The second bag has the radar nose, engine intake guard and additional aerials and sponson supports. A sheet of plastic card is supplied for the cabin floor as is a template to accurately cut it out. A large etched-brass sheet includes the forward sliding door, innstrument panels and various aerials, rotor head and undercarriage leg details and grab handles. Other than the cabin floor, no detail is supplied for the main cabin, so a SAR cabin or passenger cabin will have to be detailed from the spares box or require some scratch building. The two instruction booklets contain photos of the real aircraft with plenty of information on where all the detail parts are positioned. They don't have the traditional construction drawings. The decal sheet covers three Bristow machines: The Bristow Old Scheme; This is for a North Sea Oil Rig "Taxi" used in the seventies and eighties and is probably the paint scheme normally associated with the S-61N in Bristow service. The Bristow New Scheme; This is again for an oil rig support machine. I think there are still a few S-61Ns in service in this role with Bristow and this is their current scheme. The MCA Scheme; This is the Bristow red and white scheme that features on the box top. This conversion set is not cheap at £36 sterling but it is a very comprehensive set. It is a vast improvement over the old Transport Wings conversion set and given that the S-61N is unlikely to be produced in plastic by one of the big manufacturers, this is the ultimate S-61N kit that is likely ever to be released and is highly recommended. It would be a very good basis for a superdetailing project. LD. (I have a few more sets that might be of interest and I will post details on them soon.) Edited June 22, 2009 by Loach Driver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 (edited) Next up is a number of conversion sets from Whirlybits for the Airfix/Heller 1/72 SA330 Puma. Starting on the left is a set of updated composite rotor blades in resin. These are used on almost all Pumas from the start of the 1980's onwards. Five blades are included in the set but one of them has a moulding fault so a spare is included. The blades also have droop already worked into them. In the middle is a white metal winch for the Puma. This is also occasionally seen fitted to the AS332 Super Puma. On the right is a neat little conversion set for the SA330J version of the Puma. It includes the large sponsons, sponson struts in white metal and associated pop-out floats. There is also the large radar nose radome and the pop-out floatation bag under the nose. The SA330J version probably saw more use with commercial operators than military ones but the Portugese Air Force used them for many years in the SAR role. They recently re-entered service in Portugal to provide SAR cover as the Merlin is having a few teething problems. The Irish Air Corps also operated one in the early 1980's; http://www.airliners.net/photo/Ireland---A...70cac4226ff9516 This is fairly high on my future build list and these sets from Whirlybits will certainly help. Markings for Papa 242 were available from MaxDecals and they will have an updated Irish Air Corps sheet out later this year so hopefully the Puma will feature on it. The next post will feature some resin bits to upgrade the 1/72 Esci/Italeri UH-1D kit. LD. Edited June 20, 2009 by Loach Driver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weegie602 Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 I got the puma accessory set witht eh radome nose etc as wanted to build a SAAF puma for my dearest ( biltongbabe ). looks real good but yet to get round to it. weegie Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted June 21, 2009 Author Share Posted June 21, 2009 Next up is a number of items for the 1/72 UH-1D kit from Esci/Italeri. Top of the photo is a set of photo-etched snow shoes for the rear of the skids. I think these are the version fitted to the German Army Hueys but may also be fitted to other Hueys flown by other operators. The shoes used by the RCAF on their CH-118s were a little different, from what I can see. Bottom left is the IR Suppresion kit. The "Sugar-scoop" exhaust pipe is in white metal and it looks pretty good. There is only a small seam on either side and it will clean up quite easily. The small photo-etched sheet has the shields for the grills along the engine sides. Bottom middle is a bladder fuel tank for the rear of the main cabin. When I first saw this, it looked like a simple blob of resin but it closely matches the bladder tank in the photo on the instruction sheet. This could be used on a USMC UH-1N as well, I guess. Bottom right is a pair of replacement rear doors. This is one of the weak spots in the Esci/Italeri Huey kit. For some reason they made the kit rear doors with two different sized windows. The real helicopter has a pair of windows of the same size and these resin doors replace the inaccurate kit ones. If you look at the instructions above the doors, you can read the full list of Huey conversion bits. It looks like I will have to send off for some more stuff! LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jose miguel Posted June 23, 2009 Share Posted June 23, 2009 Hi, Im very interested in obtain a copy of the S-61N Conversion Where you buy this? Thanks in advance Jose Miguel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 The guy behind Whirlybits/Whirlybird Decals is Roger Evans. You can contact him at rgrevans@googlemail.com. He will probably be able to send a full up-to-date price list of his products. LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jose miguel Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 Thanks for the info LD I will contact today José Miguel The guy behind Whirlybits/Whirlybird Decals is Roger Evans. You can contact him at rgrevans@googlemail.com. He will probably be able to send a full up-to-date price list of his products.LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Avus Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Very interesting! Thanks for sharing this information. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted June 28, 2009 Author Share Posted June 28, 2009 Here is the final update on this thread. Here are a set of replacement blades for the Italeri 1/72 MH-53J kit. They replace the older HH-53C-style blades with the composite blades fitted to the MH-53J before they were retired. Finally, here are a set of newer blades for the Italeri 1/72 CH-47 Chinook kit. On the right of the picture is a replacement nose for the 1/72 Matchbox/Revell MBB BK117 kit. The new nose is the longer, more pointed, radar nose that is often fitted to EMS-equipped BK117s used in America. Whirlybird Decals also do a very comprhensive decal sheet for the STAT Medevac BK117 N955ME which has the radar nose fitted. I hope this was of interest. LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hemspilot Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 The guy behind Whirlybits/Whirlybird Decals is Roger Evans. You can contact him at rgrevans@googlemail.com. He will probably be able to send a full up-to-date price list of his products.LD. Howdy Loach, I have been trying to get in touch with Roger but he seems to have vanished in thin air, my Emails are not being read (not bouncing as far as I know). Have you got a Ph # you can PM me? It's important. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted July 6, 2009 Author Share Posted July 6, 2009 Howdy Loach, I have been trying to get in touch with Roger but he seems to have vanished in thin air, my Emails are not being read (not bouncing as far as I know).Have you got a Ph # you can PM me? It's important. PM sent. LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mizar Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 I'm kinda interested on those resin conversions did they have a website or online catalogue? Luigi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Linden Hill Posted July 6, 2009 Share Posted July 6, 2009 (edited) We should have another shipment of the S-61N kits at the end of July. CMR is doing the resin casting for WB right now, and has promised delivery of the parts to the UK by the middle of the month. If all goes according to plan, I'll be picking up the kits from Roger himself during my upcoming trip to the UK, and will then ship them back to the US. Fingers crossed... http://www.lindenhillimports.com/whirlybird.htm Edited July 6, 2009 by Linden Hill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Linden Hill Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 Howdy Loach, I have been trying to get in touch with Roger but he seems to have vanished in thin air, my Emails are not being read (not bouncing as far as I know).Have you got a Ph # you can PM me? It's important. The reason for this is that unfortunately Roger (Mr. Whirlybird) has been hospitalised. He's on the mend though, and hoping to be out in a couple of weeks. I wouldn't expect any E-Mail responses from him for some time. HTH Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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